Erica Whyman, Chief Executive, Northern Stage, Clore Fellow 2004/5
The Clore Leadership Programme (CLP) was initiated by the Clore Duffield Foundation in 2003 with the aim of strengthening leadership across a wide range of cultural activities. This includes the visual and performing arts, film, heritage, museums, libraries and archives, creative industries and cultural policy and administration. The Programme was created in response to the difficulties many organisations had experienced in recruiting and retaining leaders at different levels.
The Programme's initial work was focused on the development of its Fellowship Programme, providing an intensive modular training programme for twenty or more outstanding individuals each year. Each Fellowship is designed according to the individual's needs, circumstances and aspirations, and includes residential leadership courses, tailored workshops and other tuition opportunities, mentoring and coaching, a period of research supervised by a higher education institute and a three month secondment to a different organisation, where the Fellow manages a challenging project.
The Clore Duffield Foundation continues to support core costs, and the Programme also works in partnership with a range of organisations, from the public, voluntary and private sectors, which fund Fellowships related to their areas of interest. Over the last four years, these have included specialisms as varied as dance, libraries and film; particular aspects of culture such as arts and health, arts and the environment and learning; and specific geographical areas, for example North West England and Wales. Since the first Fellows began their programme in 2004, more than a hundred individuals have benefited, all of them developing their confidence, knowledge, business skills and contacts. A particular achievement of the Programme has been the development of a network of peers who will continue to support one another as they take on important leadership roles in the future. By helping this ever-increasing group of exceptional individuals to make a step-change in their skills and career potential, the Programme hopes to strengthen the cultural field as a whole.
Following the success of the Fellowship Programme, the CLP has developed its training and leadership work further, and introduced two other initiatives. A programme of Short Courses - intensive two-week residential courses in leadership development and skills training - is aimed at those in the middle ranks of cultural organisations, or those running small organisations in the sector. The courses have proved extremely popular, and over 450 people have attended courses in different locations since they were introduced in July 2006. More recently, the Programme has begun to offer training in good governance for the Trustees and senior managers of cultural organisations.
Further information is available at www.cloreleadership.org